Stephanie Knol Doula

02/25/2021

Hi friends!
I am offering virtual, free-of-charge pregnancy, birth, and postpartum mentoring sessions over the next month or two. This might involve learning mindfulness pain-coping techniques, learning about the ins and outs of labor, preparing to have informed consent conversations during labor or postpartum, doing birth art processes, preparing for the postpartum period, or working through your birth experience postpartum. I would especially love to work with at least one person who is planning a vaginal birth. Please message me if you are interested or send people my way!

** I am working on a Childbirth Educator certification through an organization called Birthing From Within and need a few more pregnant or postpartum folks to work with to practice all of the processes I am learning.

Thanks!!!

10/16/2020

Here are some of my "birth art" process explorations. They're not meant to hang on the wall, just for exploring my own inner terrain in relationship to birth, mentoring, and parenting. I always enjoy making them, but I also always resist starting. Sometimes I dislike the process as I am starting it because I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. But if I can just drop into the process without judging what I am doing, or worrying that I don't know what to do, I can find my way through the process and discover things as I go. Sometimes I uncover nourishing, helpful things, other times I uncover hidden beliefs or fears. Sometimes I simply find subtle reassurance.

10/08/2020

I am on the path to becoming a Birthing From Within Mentor. Here is a video of one of my amazing mentors, talking about how Birthing From Within Childbirth Classes are different from other types of Birthing Classes.

Comparing Birthing From Within Classes to Other Types of Classes

10/02/2020

This is a post copied from Hypnobabies, a company that teaches hypnosis for pain-relief and calming during pregnancy and birth. I used their hypnosis program during my second pregnancy and found it to be a great tool in preparing for birth. They are now offering a free hypnosis track for all to eliminate stress and anxiety. Go to the link below and download your copy!

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Hi everyone, I want to remind you about a resource that we are providing to help everyone become more calm, relaxed and confident during this challenging time - our Free Eliminate Stress and Anxiety Hypnosis Track: For the benefit of all, Hypnobabies is providing our Eliminate Stress and Anxiety hypnosis track for free, to help you release tension, stress and anxiety so your feelings will become more positive and your body more relaxed during this uncertain time.

DIRECTIONS: This is a deep *hypnosis* track so you need to listen to it *daily* for it to work, and you can even listen as you go to bed every night since your inner mind will still be absorbing the messages.

You can ONLY listen to this track in a fully supported, relaxed position with no distractions - NEVER while holding a baby or child, driving, walking, running, swimming, showering, doing yoga, cooking, operating machinery or doing anything else which requires your full focus and concentration.

Feel free to share the *link and all the information here* (copy and paste) to this track's product listing, but do NOT file-share the track itself since we want everyone who wants this track to see the safety directions. Thank you, and feel better. We will all get through this together!

Our Eliminate Stress and Anxiety hypnosis track guides you to release stress with easy tools to help maintain a much more calm, relaxed, enjoyable life. Listen daily, relax deeply and live stress-free

09/12/2020

I've been learning and teaching about the Labyrinth as a metaphor for the journey through labor, birth, and postpartum. No, David Bowie fans, I don't mean the 80s movie, though I do love Bowie! I mean the ancient symbol of the Labyrinth, where you traverse a path of twists and turns, not knowing exactly where you are in your journey or when you'll reach the center. I have really resonated with this symbol during this year of going into the unknown. It has been a great gift to me as I embarked on a new journey with birth work, and as our world experienced the great upheaval that this pandemic has delivered. Many of the people that I have worked with during pregnancy have told me how much they appreciated this teaching as well; how learning and drawing and tracing the "Laborinth" has helped them step into the sensation of going into the unknown, and has given them a mental map of metaphor to help them on their way as they traveled the twists and turns through labor, birth, and postpartum.

Below is a labyrinth that I drew with chalk pastels. I teach clients this same process as they prepare for birth and whatever it brings.

04/28/2020

I just started a childbirth educator program with this amazing organization and am so excited about working with pregnant and birthing people again! Even if it has to be virtual these days!

Resilience & resourcefulness for birth FIND A TRAINING Online Childbirth Educator and Birth Doula Trainings Available Now gain new skills reduce birth trauma guide local parents Are you overwhelmed with the constant changes in the birth world right now? Do you feel powerless seeing parents birth wit...

03/03/2019

12/11/2010

This page has GREAT info on Vitamin D and infants! Although the AAP recommends supplementation for all breastfed infants, it is probably not needed in many cases, so long as the baby is getting some direct sunlight, with no sunscreen.

kellymom.com - Breastfeeding and Parenting. Evidence-based information on breastfeeding and parenting issues.